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Scenery Review : EIDW - Dublin by Aerosoft


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Scenery Review : EIDW - Dublin by Aerosoft
 
Route : EGCC Manchester to EIDW - Dublin
 
Aerosoft do airports very well, and their new release EIDW - Dublin is one of the very best for X-Plane in a fair while. Aerosoft's record to date has been patchy for the X-Plane simulator, with some really excellent releases like BIRK - Reykjavik Airport, LSZA - Lugano Airport and the massive EHAM - Airport Amsterdam, on the other side there where the quite obvious Flight Simulator conversions that were just not up to the quality we expected from such a renowned company. But EIDW - Dublin is a big return to form for Aerosoft and this is simply great scenery. There are a few Aerosoftisms still in here but the quality overall for X-Plane is top grade.
 
First Impressions
To get the right initial aspect of EIDW, I flew a quick hop Aer Lingus service from EGCC Manchester to EIDW Dublin in the Aerosoft ATR 72-500. I personally have used the conac (Irish Scenery) EIDW for many years now and know it very well, but it is now hopelessly out of date with no updates since February 2008, think of X-Plane in 2008 and you can see how far behind the scenery is by today's standards, but it is still good scenery and worth using if you want a good freeware EIDW version.
 

 

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Departure from EGCC was RWY 05L and then when airborne it was a full 180º turn back towards WAL - Wallasey DME (144.10) and the coast. The track took me over Liverpool before tracking to Holyhead on Anglesea and then directly west by resetting my VOR2 to DAP-Dublin DME (111.20) when over the Irish Sea to go straight and directly to EIDW and Dublin.
 

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The airport is situated slightly inland from the coast, and buildings show up first in the distance. There was no sharp boundaries between the custom scenery and the default X-Plane terrain., the airport blends in perfectly well into the landscape, The runway from the distance is quite hard to mark out, my arrival is by RWY 28 (2637m) which is directly west from the coast and you don't really get the full shape of the landing strip until you are well within the ILS capture and descending inbound.
 

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The M1 motorway (highway) is excellent on approach with traffic that adds great realism (ED1 and N2 Motorways that go to the west (south of the airport) and across the top of RWY 28 are also well defined) and the airport buildings that make up the airport on your right are very and highly realistic and highly complex, which completes the whole view of the correct arrival in Ireland. Over the fence and the RWY28 is now highly defined and you pass over a great set of the raised ILS system markers.  Once on the runway I take the exit to taxiway E4 which is angled well for departure from the main runway. Lineage and taxiway marking are first rate and simply excellent on the E4 taxiway to B4 and past the "West Apron" on the M2 taxiway that takes you over the RWY34/16 (2072m) to the M1 taxiway and into the main terminal (central) aprons via the Link 4 access point. 
 

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My gate was 202 on Pier 2, and the entrance to the terminal was excellent with great terminal modeling and really good textures of the building. First impressions of Aerosoft EIDW - Dublin are simply excellent, but you feel like you are the only visitor today as you are all by your lonesome self in this vast airport...  Aerosoft's initial set up is for online fliers like VATSIM and IVAO.
 
EIDW - Dublin Airport
 

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(GoogleMaps®)

 

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10/28  2,637m  (8,652ft)  Concrete

16/34  2,072m  (6,798ft)  Asphalt

Elev AMSL  242 ft / 74 m

 

Dublin Airport, (Irish: Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath) (IATA: DUB, ICAO: EIDW), is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland and is operated by the Dublin Airport Authority, And the airport is located 5.4 nmi (10.0 km; 6.2 mi) north of Dublin city near Swords, in the county of Fingal, Ireland.
 
The airport has an extensive short and medium haul network, served by an array of carriers as well as some intercontinental routes focused in the Middle East and the US. It serves as the headquarters of Ireland's flag carrier Aer Lingus, Ireland's regional airline Stobart Air (formerly Aer Arann) and also Europe's largest low-cost carrier Ryanair, which along with Air Contractors, together with a fifth airline, CityJet, which doesn't maintain major operations here. United States border preclearance services are available at the airport for US-bound passengers, making Dublin one of only two European airports with this facility along with Shannon.
 
In 1936 the Government of Ireland established a new civil airline, Aer Lingus, which began operating from the military aerodrome, Casement Aerodrome, at Baldonnel to the southwest of Dublin. A decision was made that a civil airport should replace Baldonnel as the city's airport. The townlands of Collinstown, Rock and Corballis in the Barony of Coolock were selected as the location for the new civil aerodrome. Construction of the new airport began in 1937. By the end of 1939 a grass airfield surface, internal roads, car parks and electrical power and lighting were set up. The inaugural flight from Dublin took place on 19 January 1940 to Liverpool. and also in1940 work began on a new airport terminal building. The terminal building was designed by architect Desmond FitzGerald opened in early 1941, with its design heavily influenced by the bridges of the luxury ocean liners of the time. Three new concrete runways (part war operations) were completed by 1947.
 
Throughout the 1950s Dublin Airport expanded with virtually uninterrupted traffic growth. Runway extensions and terminal enhancements were carried out to deal with the influx of traffic and passengers. New airlines began serving the airport also. These included British European Airways, Sabena and BKS, and In 1958 a new transatlantic service was started by Aer Lingus via Shannon Airport. During 1969, EIDW handled 1,737,151 passengers.
 
In 1971, Aer Lingus took delivery of two new Boeing 747 aircraft; the first one arrived in March and, shortly afterwards, performed a flyover above O'Connell Street in Dublin on Saint Patrick's Day; a third Boeing 747 was delivered later that decade. To cope with this a new passenger terminal capable of handling five million passengers per year was opened in 1972 (now Terminal 1). During the 1980s, major competition, especially on the Dublin–London routes, resulted in passenger numbers swelling to 5.1 million in 1989. In the same year a new 8,650 ft (2,640 m) runway and a state-of-the-art air traffic control centre were opened. Dublin Airport continued to expand rapidly in the 1990s.
 
Pier A (3), which had been the first extension to the old terminal building was significantly extended. A new Pier C (2), complete with air bridges, was built and as soon as this was completed, work commenced to extend it to double its capacity. The ground floor of the original terminal building was returned to passenger service after many years to provide additional departure gates. Pier D (1), completed in October 2007, is a dedicated low-fares boarding area and provides 14 quick turn-around stands and departure gates; these are not served by air bridges. This pier is dominated by Ryanair which has a base situated at the airport. Construction of Terminal 2 began on 1 October 2007, and was officially opened on 19 November 2010.
 

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Aerosoft's EIDW - Dublin Airport is a large complex scenery. The scenery like noted on approach fits very well into X-Plane's landscape and looks excellent from any angle from the air. There are three areas of significance in the major terminal area on the east side, the "West" apron that has the fire station and Airport Tower and hangar buildings and a strip of buildings down the side of RWY 10/26 on the south side.
 
At first the layout of terminals and their piers are confusing, so we will go through them to sort out their position and activites.
 

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Terminal One
Terminal One is positioned center of the airport, off this terminal are three piers (known as A,B and D) but we will note them here for clarity as Pier's 1, 2 and 3 and start in the order of construction.
 

 

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Attached directly in front of Terminal 1 is Pier 3 (or the old Pier B. which is an arm and a circular set of gates with airbridges (jetways). Terminal one is a highly complex building that has been exceptionally reproduced here and retains its 1970's retro feel. there are built in carpark ramps and traffic ramps at the front of the building. Detailing is excellent with a great worn in feel. Terminal one is all mostly short haul flights to Europe and the UK, and is used by mostly European Airlines, except Aer Lingus which uses Terminal 2 for their European and UK network.
 

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The connection arm between the Terminal (1) and the Pier 3 is a perfect reproduction of the brick and steel building standard of the day, nice notes are the large Air-Con units on the rear of the pier building. The pier is a three tier structure with a full glass facade, and the textures are perfect. The building covers Gates 301-313.
 

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Pier 2 (Old Pier A) is a stand pier with no airbridges and facilities for transfer to remote stands. Again a two part pier with the transfer building at the rear and a lower rotunda building for walk on or off passengers. The buildings covers Gates 201-220, part of the pier is extended into the old original Dublin terminal building.
 

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The old terminal building is an extraordinary beautiful building that has been faithfully reproduced here. Looking like a cross-section of a ships bridge section, it is wonderful the building is still used today and kept in its original condition as a link to the past of the airport.
 
Looping behind the old terminal from Terminal 1 is a (very long) glass walkway that connects to Pier 1 (Old Pier D) that is really the Ryanair pier for low-cost carrier (LCC) services.


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Pier one is a long glass no-fuss pier, it is set out for the quick turnaround operations that LCC carriers require and has 14 quick turn-around stands and departure gates. Here the pier has been very well reproduced and created, the windows have great reflections of aircraft that are not sitting at their gates?  But it still somehow looks authentic. The building covers Gates 101 - 113.
 
Terminal Two
Terminal 2 is a 75,000 m2 (810,000 sq ft) terminal and pier (pier E) which provides 19 air bridges for aircraft and is capable of handling 15 million passengers annually, thereby allowing the airport to handle 35 million passengers a year. It would be noted here as the International Terminal.
 

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The great thing about this EIDW scenery and with this new Terminal 2, is that it is all bang and right up to date and future proof for a foreseeable period (a new Control Tower is planned, and so is another parallel runway to 10/20 but GFC costs have put both projects on hold for the current period).
 
Here again the modeling is exceptional as the Iconic unusual shape of Terminal 2 has been very well reproduced. From the ramps you can't fault the view and the pier with airbridges are highly usable (no autogates here though). But the glass treatment is on this complex area and buildings are really well done. Only small bluff is the roads coming out of the terminal drop-off zones are photo underlays which are quite boring with no traffic but with great traffic signage.
 
The terminal is of two levels with Gates 401-406 on the lower level (no airbridges) and Gates 407-426 on the upper level (airbridges), Currently the following airlines operate from Terminal 2: Aer Lingus, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, Etihad Airways, United, and US Airways.
 
Aer Lingus and Ryanair who have around 80% market share between them dominate the services, although Ryanair serves more destinations from Dublin, Aer Lingus has a slightly higher market share as they offer higher frequency than Ryanair on many of their routes. The Dublin - London route is one of the world's busiest international air routes, with 640 weekly flights between the two cities.
 
One of the great things about EIDW is the taxi journey (and time) to either RWY 28 or RWY 34 is extremely short, certainly from Pier 4 (Terminal 2). The Terminal 2 complex also replaced the old Pier C that went to the south of Terminal 1.
 
Top Ten routes are a mixed bag with London, UK the dominant destination.
 
1  London Heathrow - pax 1,663,995
2  London Gatwick  - pax 978,543 
3  London Stansted  - pax 725,627
4  Paris Charles de Gaulle - pax 631,452 
5  Manchester  - pax 622,970
6  New York JFK  - pax 587,104
7  Birmingham - pax 563,203
8  Frankfurt - pax  510,568
9  Amsterdam - pax 498,853
10  Malaga - pax  440,066
 
Airport Buildings
To the south of Terminal 2 is the Aer Lingus Cargo area known as the "South Apron", which is very well represented with another warehouse style building for DHL and the GATEGOURMET catering building. There are simply to many buildings in the reception areas of Dublin Airport to cover here, but all are well conceived and all buildings on site are covered, Highlights are the excellent Raddisson Blu Hotel and the Dublin Airport Authority headquarters. There are plenty of carparks and the open-air ones do have the underlay featuring flat cars, but there has been a lot of 3d models placed that it does cover a significant amount of the areas to make it all work, so there is no empty areas here that look really out of place. Only Aerosoftism are the empty flat roads in places. Signage includes a really great San Francisco advertising cover on the side of another hotel is excellent,
 

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There are football and playing fields that are very noticeable on approach to RWY 28, and there are sets of buildings laid out all alongside the south section of RWY 10/28 in two areas that makes up the complete scenery on all boundaries right to the end of RWY28.
 

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North Apron
On the north side is the maintenance area of the "North Apron", here there are eight hangars and workshops in various forms. Aer Lingus, Ryanair, CityJet, Eirtech and Dublin Aerospace all have aircraft maintenance hangars based here...  The Aer Lingus building is very imposing. There is some light aircraft parking available here also (Park B. and the old runway on the north boundary is also an aircraft park (Park C).
 

 

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West Apron and Tower Complex
The "West Apron" is in the middle of the V of RWY's 10/28 and 34/16 This area includes the Fire Station and plenty of remote aircraft stands and aircraft parking areas and a very high radar tower.
 

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The Control Tower is in a center section here with some support buildings and to the north is a hangar maintenance area for lighter aircraft. The view (below) from the tower (tower view) is excellent, but as you rotate around a few railings come in and out of view...  mostly the view is very good.
 

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Static Aircraft

 

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You can instantly fill out EIDW with static aircraft by downloading a "Static Aircraft" folder from Aerosoft here: Dublin Static Airplanes 1.00

This will create a better atmosphere of a more lively airport, but it does restrict your number of gates you can use. Pier 4 (Terminal 2) is very full and there is not much choice here to park up your large Boeing 777, and over on the "West Apron" there are no static aircraft parked up there, but there is a lot of GA and light jets spread around the aircraft parking areas.

 

Lighting
 

 

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Lighting is good in that FSX contex of view. There is not a lot of variation in the colour spectrum, The runways are very good and very well lit and most hangars have white down lights, but mostly the rest is just all a yellow hue colour. There are a few spot lighting blobs around the roads and the carparks, and good spread lighting on remote parking areas, Buildings have good lighting window textures, but range from "good" to just "not to bad". Close in on the ramps they are very well lit but the throw will leave the tail of your aircraft in the dark. Overall it is good, but there are other airports that have better X-Plane style lighting than this more Flight Simulator look.

 

Summary
EIDW - Dublin is certainly a return to form for Aerosoft in scenery in X-Plane. Complex and very complete and right up to date with all the latest gates and terminals. The inner areas are full of buildings of every shape and size and completely recreates this iconic Irish airport in full.
In Aerosoft fashion EIDW is sterile without any of the static aircraft inserted and has no animations or animated airbridges on the ramps to give the airport some life, so the "Static Aircraft" is a must install if you don't fly online. I found the frame-rate good for such a very big object investment scenery, I could at a push run in the "very high" resolution, but it pushed the graphic settings over my misery 512mb allowance and with that I lost a lot of speed, In the "high" setting I had no problems at all but however the gap between very high and high is huge because of the large amount of textures living in here, so if you have 1gb or more of graphic memory you will be fine in the "very high"setting to absorb all that graphic work. The note here then is that the scenery has this huge amount of textures to process and overall when considering the amount of objects on the ground it is exceptionally good.
Lighting is good but not exceptional and has more that FS look than the usual X-PLane HDR feel that is again is common from Aerosoft.
Overall in the design and execution of the scenery...    Aerosoft's EIDW - Dublin Airport is simply first rate and as an investment it is exceptional, and it is certainly valuable to have this significant selection of scenery in X-Plane and it is placed for high usage in the western UK/European part of the world...
 
Installation
File Download Size 463.50mb - Installation Size 1.03gb
Aerosoft provide their own installation application with the scenery and a serial number is required. The installer will insert the scenery into the main X-Plane "Custom Scenery" folder. It is important if you install the extra folder with the "Static Aircraft" that the "Static Aircraft" folder is above the main Dublin scenery in the scenery_packs.ini list. If not the aircraft won't be seen in the scenery?
The Scenery comes with a full set of "Charts" (44 Pages) and a manual in German and English (20 Pages)

 

____________________________________________________

 

X-Plane Store logo sm.jpg


Yes! the "EIDW - Dublin Airport" scenery by Aerosoft

 

Is now Available from the X-Plane.OrgStore! : Airport Dublin
 
Price is  US$29.99
 
Features:
        Despite a very large number of these 3D details the frame rate is high
        All buildings and installations at and around the airport
        High quality models and photo real textures
        High resolution runways and taxiways
        Highly realistic night time effects
        High resolution textures
        Compatible with the standard AI traffic
        Manual in German and English
        Lufthansa Systems FlightNav Charts
 
Review by Stephen Dutton
 
Copyright © 2014: X-Plane Reviews
 
11th September 2014
 
Technical Requirements:
X-Plane 10.25 +
Windows XP/Vista/Windows7/8, Mac, Linux
MultiCore Processor with 2.6 Ghz or faster
4 GB RAM -3D video card with at least 1 GB

 
Review System Specifications:
Computer System:     
- 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”
- 6 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3
- ATI Radeon HD 4850 512mb
Software:     
- Mac OS Mavericks 10.9.2
- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.25 (final)
Addons
- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle

Aircraft
- ATR 72-500 by Aerosoft US$32.05 X-Plane.orgStore (ATR72 - 500)
 

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